No. I don’t. Stop it, Robin.
My reflection frowns at me in the bathroom mirror. Admittedly, I love that a gorgeous guy has taken an interest in me, but I can never let myself fall into that situation again. Relationships can work for some people but for me, they will always end in failure. I just wasn’t meant to date.
Grandpa’s watch hangs loosely on my wrist and the memory of him prompts me to sneak out of my room and grab the pictures I had left on the kitchen counter. Miranda and Marcus are still on the couch with their backs to me, so no one sees me slip into the kitchen dressed in a new outfit. I am not ready for the questions. Not yet. Plus it’s still ten minutes until seven, so there’s still a chance the boy will leave before I have to embarrass myself.
Now back in the safety of my bedroom, I lay out the photos on the bed. My grandparents look so happy in each one. I bet neither one of them ever had a broken heart before they met each other. Back in those days, people met the love of their life and stayed happily in love. They didn’t have to deal with Facebook drama or finding naked pictures of your best friend on your fiancé’s cell phone. Life was simple and all they had to do was love each other.
I stare at my grandmother’s smiling face and a tear pools in the corner of my eye. She was so incredibly beautiful. It’s hard to realize that their love would end just a year after these pictures were taken. She would die in childbirth and her beautiful face would never be in another photograph again.
By the time I knew Grandpa, he had aged considerably. But even I know that in the time I knew him, he never once smiled as happily as he did in these photographs.
Maybe true love isn’t as great as it looks.
Chapter 14
My metaphorical big girl panties fit a little too snugly tonight. After I had psyched myself up for the millionth time in front of my mirror, I tugged on the pretend panties and strode out into my living room like a woman with nothing to hide. When Tyler’s obscenely loud truck comes to a stop in front of my house, I do as I had planned just moments go. “That’s my ride, gotta go, see ya later, be good!” I run out the front door like a teenager running from an overprotective dad. It takes a whole three seconds after Tyler pulls out of my driveway to glance at me and question what the hell just happened.
“I would have gotten out and walked up to the door, you know. You didn’t need to sprint to my truck like an Olympic gold medalist.”
I shrug and feel the weight of my anxiety press into me. “Marcus and Miranda were getting a little annoying so I just couldn’t wait to get out of the house.”
“More like you didn’t tell them you were going out with me.”
He says it all smug and matter-of-fact. It makes me wonder if he has hidden cameras in the house to watch my every move. I lift an eyebrow as I try to think of a response, but then he holds up his cell phone from the cup holder in the center console.
I read the screen and see a text from Marcus.
Marcus: Secret booty call? haha Robin didn’t tell us she was going out with you.
I bury my face in my hands. “Oh god.”
Tyler laughs. “You didn’t tell them about our fake date? I’m shocked. It’s not like you’ve repeatedly turned me down for a real date or anything.”
I lift my head and stare straight ahead, refusing to let him see the embarrassment in my face. “I didn’t tell them because it’s not a big deal.”
“And that’s why you ran out of the house before they knew what was going on. Makes total sense.”
Now I look over at him. He gives me this cocky yet adorable smile. “I’m going to punch you in the face,” I say with a grin I can’t seem to hold back.
He smirks and adjusts his hands on the steering wheel. “I look forward to it.”
Tyler takes us nearly an hour out of town into the neighboring city of Lawson. This place has a population of fifteen thousand according to the street sign and I never realized how much I missed McDonald’s until I’ve gone a couple weeks without seeing one.
Tyler shakes his head when I tell him this, complete with an eye roll when I mention how I could eat nothing but French fries for dinner and be happy. “I’m not taking my fake date out for a dinner at a fast food restaurant.”
The way he calls me his date, even though it’s said in a joking way, sends a shiver down my spine. His stupid sideways grin makes my chest tighten and his thick arched eyebrows look so sexy when he lifts one of them in my direction. I have to keep telling myself that this is not a real date and I am not interested in him in a boyfriend-like way.
Because liking him in that way would only lead to heartache. With the stupid exception of that drunken night with Jason Hightower, I’ve never been one for having a friend with benefits. But I’m starting to wonder if I could be that kind of girl.
“Well?” Tyler says, waving his hand in front of my face. I jump back into reality and realize that he’s been talking to me for the last few seconds.
“I’m sorry, what?” I ask, feeling the blood rush to my face.
“Italian food. Do you like it?”
I
nod. I could go for some pasta right now because a bowl of fettuccine alfredo always makes me feel bloated and gross. Nothing will stop my dirty mind from pondering the idea of a friends-with-benefits situation quite like a belly full of pasta.